


the righteous will succeed

by sisstrider



Series: Collective Consciousness Controlled [1]
Category: Dangan Ronpa
Genre: Gen, expecting me not to be ishimaeda trash? too bad, mastermind ishimaru
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-28
Updated: 2014-06-28
Packaged: 2018-02-06 13:09:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1859211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sisstrider/pseuds/sisstrider
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>alt title: "so we'll make freedom obsolete" or basically any line from collective consciousness</p><p>He could do so much better, if he were the one in charge. And he owed it to the world to try.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the righteous will succeed

**Author's Note:**

> listen to [collective consciousness](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dPaVk4G1jg), it pretty much sums up ishimaru's ideology. it's also where i got the fic title from
> 
> this is some kind of prelude to an entire series about a mastermind ishimaru au, which will cover dr, sdr2, and dr0. something to remember is that ishimaru does quite a few things differently from junko over the course of this series

He had never really recovered. 

What his grandfather had done was inexcusable, a single action that had cast his entire family into poverty. They were mockeries now. Whenever he passed by, he could hear the faint whispers of people, no doubt talking about him. The prime minister’s family, dishonored by a stupid scandal. He hated his grandfather, absolutely hated him. This wouldn’t have happened if that _genius_ hadn’t grown confident about his position, sure he could issue a perfect coverup. Of course, he had’t, and his fall from grace had shattered every ounce of respect the public still held for the Ishimaru family.

He hated his grandfather because people who were corrupt shouldn’t have been able to become heads of state. It would mean that the entire country would catch the corruption. He thought of how his grandfather had nearly succeeded, and how the only way to stop him had been to throw the entire family in the dirt, and at first, he had despaired. Perhaps his family had been corrupted, and he had too. And then the grief turned into anger. He could do so much better, if he were the one in charge. And he owed it to the world to try. If someone in his family had nearly ruined everything, it only made sense for someone in the same family to repair everything. Under his command, there would no longer be any corruption of any sort. Geniuses and the like would no longer be trusted.

He would have to start small, and school was not a bad place to start. Hope’s Peak Academy was full of influential people, and obtaining power over them would surely indirectly influence everyone else. Putting his plan into motion, he forewent socialization with his peers in favor of spending time with the headmaster, Jin Kirigiri. Even without his plan, he wouldn’t have spoken to his classmates much anyway — he was too different from them to be able to carry on a conversation. Besides, he was sure that they distrusted his family, too.

Little by little, he began to earn the headmaster’s trust by displaying his incredible work ethic. The headmaster could overlook his idiosyncrasies, like his eagerness to punish any violators of school rules and the severe punishments he inflicted on those instigators. It didn’t matter, he was there and he was dedicated to his job. Eventually, other things began to change for him. He was pulled out of a class so he could assist the headmaster with his duties. As the weeks went by, the amount of classes he was pulled out of increased, until he worked full-time in the headmaster’s office.

From his new position, he learned many things about the school. It was low on funds, for one thing. Even integrating the reserve classes was barely enough to cover all expenses. In his opinion, it was ridiculous. The heir of one of the largest global corporations was attending the school, and yet the corporation wouldn’t send a thing the school’s way, despite holding a good fraction of the world’s money. From that, he could conclude that rich people were horrible. The Togami Conglomerate controlled a good deal of the world through its subsidiaries, spreading its taint through the planet. There was only one thing to do, he realized. He would have to destroy society, and then build it back up in his image.

And what better way to tear down society than to drive everyone over the edge into despair, until they did the work for him? He may have believed in hard work, but even he recognized when throwing himself singlehandedly into one endeavor would be practically self-destructive. He would have to set off the perfect event to spark the revolution of despair that would burn the world down. And _then_ his real work could begin. Nobody at school suspected him, either. When it really counted, it seemed like every talented genius in the school lost all their foresight.

For the most part, being wholly unknown by the rest of the students was a blessing. However, it made it harder for him to find other people who would help him with his plan. Nobody knew a single thing about him, save that arriving to class even a second late was worth hours of detention in his eyes. It would be difficult to gather followers if he continued to act the way he was, but he would have to manage somehow.

One evening, he was just leaving the headmaster’s office for the day when he almost literally bumped into one of the other students. This other person was standing in a place where he was inches away from getting hit with the door as it swung open, almost as if he had calculated the distance.

“Who are you?” As the headmaster’s assistant, he knew who everyone was, but it was more humiliating to have the person identify themselves. It was also a way to judge that person’s integrity. If they claimed to be somebody else, the punishment would accordingly be ramped up.

“K-Komaeda Nagito!” the other person stammered out. “You’re...the headmaster’s assistant, right? Ishimaru, uh...” He frowned. Nobody really knew Ishimaru’s given name, he kept to himself most of the time.

“That’s correct,” Ishimaru told him. “Now, what are you doing here? Do you have business with the headmaster, or are you wasting our time?”

Instead of answering, Komaeda was thrown into a violent coughing fit. When he finally came out of it, his face was flushed from lack of oxygen. “I’m just looking for the nurse’s office,” he rasped. “As you can see, I’m very sick.”

Ishimaru glared at him, unsure if it was a joke or not. Whatever it was, it was extremely aggravating. “This is the fourth floor. The nurse’s office is on the _first floor_ of the building.”

“It...it is? Oh, I am _really_ lost, then. I’m sorry.” Komaeda turned around and began to leave.

“Wait. Do you...do you want me to show you where it is?” Ishimaru reasoned that if he showed Komaeda where the nurse’s office was, then Komaeda would not be able to claim ignorance of where he was going if Ishimaru ever caught him snooping around. 

“You’d go down there with me?” Komaeda seemed to brighten a little, and it was so disgustingly hopeful that Ishimaru had to do something. “Nobody’s...nobody here ever wants to walk with me.” That was ridiculously pathetic, in Ishimaru’s opinion.

“No. I don’t have any time to do that. I can show you where it is on a map, though,” Ishimaru offered. As he predicted, the spark of hope in Komaeda faded.

“Okay. Give me the map, then.” Ishimaru handed it to Komaeda, pointed out the room next to the bathrooms, and sent him on his way. And that, it seemed, was the end of that.

However, Ishimaru swore he could hear the sound of someone in the vicinity coughing violently whenever he left the office for the day. When he checked the halls, there was nobody in sight.

From there, he decided to amend his plan. He was going to attempt to win Komaeda Nagito’s trust, as well. Above all other things, he needed people to work for him. One could not become a powerful leader without pawns, after all. The most pathetic, worthless people made the best pawns because it was easier to win over their loyalty with kindness. Indeed, he remembered how Komaeda had claimed that nobody ever walked with him before. It would not take much kindness for him to win him over. He would wait until Komaeda hit his lowest point, and then he would build him back up again. He would make him indebted to him, maybe even love him. Leaders like the ones he planned to be needed blindly loyal followers.

Earning his trust was so deceptively simple that at first, Ishimaru doubted that he had really done it. His work in life had never really come easy, so something like this was met with suspicion. However, he needed to take what he could get since nobody else was with him. Disregarding his suspicions, he began to plan the catalyst for his great despair revolution. Surely a major disaster within the school, a symbol of hope to many, would be enough. If students died...if students killed others, then the people would surely fall into despair.

It happened near the beginning of his second year of school. The student council was dead, and the reserve class was horrified. They were the ones with no talent, and it turned out that in the end, their hard-earned money had gone toward a school of murderers. Riots ensued. This was the catalyst Ishimaru had needed, the start of the civil war of despair. Fighting and violence erupted in the streets, with people joining in simply because it was the normal state of things. Chaos had to reign in order for him to step in and create order.

The war still raged on even a year later. The headmaster called Ishimaru in to discuss something as the school year drew to a close. 

“It’s becoming too dangerous out there. I think...we will have to close the school next year,” Jin told him. He could not have recognized that the disaster wracking the world outside was his assistant’s own doing. “Instead, I think we should take this building and turn it into a shelter for the surviving students.” Out of everyone who had gone to Hope’s Peak, only the class Ishimaru had formerly been in and a few others had survived.

A shelter for the remaining students...that was something Ishimaru could work to his advantage. The closer together the lights of hope were, the easier he could snuff them out. “I will do whatever you’ve decided to, sir,” he replied. It would be a shame to deceive Jin Kirigiri, Ishimaru had grown somewhat fond of him. He had to remember that the headmaster was part of the old, corrupt system, though. Besides, this was all for the new, unified world he would create. Certain things would have to be eradicated in order for him to reach his goals.

“All right, it’s time to make preparations then,” said the headmaster. “I’m going to speak to the remaining students to see if they would agree to this plan. Would you mind taking care of securing the building?”

“Of course not, I’d do anything you asked, sir,” Ishimaru assured him. “I’ll make sure that nobody will be able to leave this building.” It was in his best interest to make sure his former classmates would be safe, for the time being. He had something special in mind for dealing with them. Any interference would deviate from his plan, which would be unacceptable. He doubted that people would rather try to survive the violent revolution, though.

Every single person in the class decided to stay within the school building. Everyone else ran out, seemingly willing to take their chances with the civil war outside. Enlisting the help of the other students, Ishimaru began to seal up the school. The class screwed metal plates onto every window, and Ishimaru managed to get a pair of remotely-opened bunker doors installed. When that was done, he set up an elaborate surveillance system, with security cameras in almost every possible area. All the footage could be monitored from the data processing room, an area that he set up a decent office space in. The headmaster was perplexed as to why Ishimaru was doing all this, but he allowed it to pass without much question. After all, Ishimaru had managed to seal up the school efficiently. Once again, he could overlook Ishimaru’s strange actions just because he had proven himself.

This was the headmaster’s greatest mistake — ignoring those glaringly obvious warning signs. Perhaps if he had never given Ishimaru that first bit of power, everything could have been avoided entirely.

Early the next morning, Ishimaru slipped something into the coffee machines around the school, including the one in the headmaster’s office. Anyone who decided to have some coffee would be knocked out for at least a day. Ishimaru was just realizing that not everyone drank coffee when he saw his assistant about to drink a fresh cup of it. He quickly knocked the cup away, spilling the scalding beverage all over Komaeda.

“Hey!” Komaeda jumped back, but it didn’t stop coffee from soaking the front of his jacket. “What was that for?”

“Did you already forget that I drugged the coffee?” Ishimaru shook his head in disappointment. “Go do something useful. Here.” He took out a bottle of the stuff he had poured into the coffee makers and handed it to his assistant. “Take this and pour it in the water coolers. I forgot that only some people drink it. Being around you and the headmaster made me think everyone does.”

For a second, Komaeda stared at the vial of clear liquid, then turned and ran out of the data processing room. That left Ishimaru to wait until his plan could finally begin. And once it began, nobody would be able to stop the ultimate despair that would finally destroy the world. When that happened, Ishimaru would finally be able to create a world free of the corruptive influence of geniuses like his grandfather, just like he had always wanted.

**Author's Note:**

> as long as we're making metal gear references shsl despair pretty much is/wants to be like the patriots
> 
> you guys got off lucky because there's not much ishimaru/komaeda stuff in here. next time, though, you may not be as fortunate


End file.
